Ireland have named a 37-man squad for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations Championships which kicks off with an away trip to Cardiff on Saturday 4th February.
In Round 2, Ireland host France at the Aviva Stadium looking to secure their first victory over Fabien Galthie’s side since 2019. There was just six points between the two sides last year in Paris and France emerged the victors when they last faced off in Dublin the previous year winning 15-13.
In the third round, Ireland travel to Rome to face a resurgent Italy who have recorded wins over Australia and Wales in the past year.
Round 4 sees the team in BT Murrayfield to face Gregor Townsend’s Scotland and six days later in the final game of the Championship, Ireland play host to England at the Aviva Stadium.
Both of Ireland’s home games against France and England are sold out and all of Ireland’s fixtures will be broadcast live on free-to-air television and radio across RTE, VIRGIN, BBC, ITV, RTE Radio and BBC NI Radio.
More details of the TV coverage will be unveiled at a joint RTé and Virgin Media launch at the Aviva Stadium this morning.
Ireland finished second to France in last year’s Championship with four wins and five bonus points for a total of 21 points claiming the Triple Crown for the first time since 2018.
There is one uncapped player named in the squad, Leinster’s Jamie Osborne. Osborne was first integrated into the senior squad in November 2021 as a development player and has since featured for Emerging Ireland and Ireland A.
He will be one of four out halves in the squad alongside Jack Crowley from Munster, Ross Byrne and team Captain Johnny Sexton, but there is no space for Joey Carbery.
Jacob Stockdale is one of five Ulster players to make the cut, the same number as from Connacht. There are seven Munster players named and a massive 20 from Leinster.
“The Six Nations is a huge competition for us and another opportunity for us to grow as group,” said Head Coach Andy Farrell.
“2022 was a busy year as we got to work with a larger group of players as we continued to build our squad depth and competition for places. ”
“While there are a few players carrying knocks and others that have missed out on selection for the start of the tournament, they will have the opportunity to push their case playing for their provinces in the URC over the coming weeks as no doubt we will need to call upon the wider group as the tournament progresses.”
